We have been hearing many
“narratives” of Sikkim Earthquake since its occurrence on September 18th.
The spectators, or we may say the narrators, whosoever they may be, exaggerate
the events in such a way that the real things remain behind curtail because of
their overstatement. I also have heard similar exaggerated narratives from some
people after the earthquake. Few people of my village Assam Lingzey told me
that it is “impossible” to reach some places like Sakyong, Thulung and Bey in
North Sikkim due to the massive landslides. They were very much correct in
their sayings and possibly they were averting me from going there in the midst
of Dasain. It was a challenging task for all of
us to reach there. But, as we reach there the “narratives” were different. In fact,
we had a face to face contact with the vinegary realities of earthquake in Bey.

A cloth pack left by the villagers at Bey

We were already aware
from the fact that the village called Bey in north Sikkim has been abandoned by
the villagers and they were now living at a Relief Camp at Char Mile. Even though,
we decided to go there to see the enormity of the huge shake which has thrilled
the entire state of Sikkim. In the evening of 7th October, a native
of Lingzya had come to our camp at the Panchayat Bhavan of the village. He told
us about the death of a 16 years old girl at Bey due to the landslide after the
earthquake. She was Lakit Lepcha, a student of Class VII of Lingzya Jr. High
School. She was a smiling and a beautiful child and was staying at Lingzya
with her friends. On 18th September which will be remembered as a “Black
Day” by every Sikkimese in the coming days, she asked her friends to visit her house
at Bey to have Momo (a traditional Tibetan dish mostly popular in the entire
Himalayan region). Her friends refused to go with her and they stay back at
Lingzya. After their refusal she took a small boy from Lingzya to her house at
Bey. Her brother, a saw puller (I have forgotten his Name) who was working at
lower Dzongu, had also come to his house. When the earthquake occurred, the brother-sister
duo was preparing Momo for the evening. After a few seconds of the earthquake
the mountain above their village fall down with a huge spark (possibly occurred
due to rubbing of the rocks) and swept the house of Lakit leading her to bury inside
the debris of her house. Her smiles, her happiness, her containment and
cheerfulness were also buried along with her in the wreckage of her house. The small boy, who accompanied Lakit on her
way to Bey, fortunately was at another house where a Puja was going on. The second
house remains untouched and many other villagers of Bey survived.

Relief Team of Namchi Govt. College on the way to Bey

After hearing this
account about Lakit, I decided to meet the surviving members of her family. They
had come to Bey to lift Dhaja in the name of those who lost
their lives in the catastrophe of September 18th. Her surviving family
members (I did not have the courage to ask their relation with Lakit) cried in
front of us while telling about her. The family has lost almost all of its
members. Five people including Lakit lost their lives at Bey. Three bodies had
been recovered, but they could not find the bodies of another two people.

After hearing about the
untimed and a most unfortunate demise of Lakit, every person in our team got
tearful. The account about the smiling daughter of Bey is not an overstatement
as we have been hearing; it is undeniably a heartbreaking fact of the September
18th. I wanted to acquire more information about her from Lingzya. After our arrival from Bey, I met a student of
Lingzya Jr. High School and asked her about Lakit. She told me that Lakit was
her senior and was a pleasant and a kindly girl. On 8th of October,
we left Lingzya and proceeded towards Singtam for Namchi. Everybody in our team
was silently praying for the soul of the Smiling Daughter of Bey to rest in
peace.